Difficulties in falling asleep, remaining asleep, sleeping for adequate lengths of time, or abnormal sleep behavior are common symptoms for those suffering with a sleep disorder. A number of sleep disorders, e.g., insomnia or sleep apnea, are described in the online Merck Manual of Medicinal Information.
Current treatment of many sleep disorders include the use of prescription hypnotics, e.g., benzodiazapines, that may be habit-forming, lose their effectiveness after extended use, and metabolize more slowly for certain designated groups, e.g., elderly persons, resulting in persisting medicative effects.
Other, more mild manners of treatment include over-the-counter antihistamines, e.g., diphenhydramine or dimenhydrinate, which are not designed to be strictly sedative in their activity. This method of treatment is also associated with a number of adverse side effects, e.g., persistence of the sedating medication after the prescribed time of treatment, or the so-called “hangover effect”. Many of these side effects result from nonspecific activity in both the periphery as well as the Central Nervous System (CNS) during this period of extended medication.